DIYhttp://www.maximumpc.com/taxonomy/term/1181/
enIt's OK to Buy Pre-built (Column)http://www.maximumpc.com/its_ok_buy_pre-built_column_2015
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u154082/genesis-white-angle-left.jpg" width="250" height="250" style="float: right;" />Stop the PC shaming</h3>
<p>I built my first PC when I was 12 and believe that if you have any love for the platform, you should learn how to build one yourself. Having said that, however, I realize that not everyone has the time or patience to learn how to build a rig (even though it’s really not hard to do). I’ve been doing a lot of research lately, as I’ve picked up the system reviews beat for <a title="maximum pc" href="maximumpc.com" target="_blank">Maximum PC</a>, and notice that there’s a negative stigma against people who buy pre-built machines. “Just build it yourself,” these judgmental commenters say. As much as I want everyone to know how to put together their PCs, I’d rather them buy pre-built PCs if it might be their only entrance into our awesome clubhouse. In essence, I think it’s OK to buy pre-built.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now, I’m not talking about your grandfather’s old Dell or HP towers here. Yuck, am I right? But boutique system builders have come a long way. One argument you hear against buying pre-builts is that it’s cheaper to build your own PC, and in many cases this is definitely true. It might cost you a little bit of time, but financially, it can add up. This isn’t always the case, however. I recently reviewed <a title="syber vapor" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/cyberpower_pc_syber_vapor_review_2015" target="_blank">CyberPower PC’s Syber Vapor</a>; the little Mini-ITX box is equipped with a <a title="980 review" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/nvidia_geforce_gtx_980_review2014" target="_blank">GeForce GTX 980</a> and an i7-4790K CPU and retails for $1,638. While that doesn’t sound cheap, when we tried to replicate the build ourselves using prices from Newegg, the tab came out to $1,807. That means you’re saving nearly $170 buying pre-built. In addition, you’re getting CyberPower PC’s one-year warranty. A lot of these vendors can get away with this via buying power. Consider it the Costco method of computer shopping.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154082/cyberpower_pc-2_0.jpg" alt="syber vapor" title="syber vapor" width="620" height="367" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>CyberPower PC's high-end Vapor SKU is cheaper than its individual components.</strong></p>
<p>Speaking of which, warranty and customer service can be a big factor, especially for the newbie PC buyer. I’ve built several gaming rigs for friends by cobbling together spare parts and whatnot, but I’ve also been approached by friends who depend on computers to make a living, like full-time jobs editing video. My gut reaction is to direct them to vendors like iBuyPower and CyberPower because these companies put together machines for pretty cheap and have solid one-year warranties. As much as I like building PCs for friends, dealing with their support calls (especially if it pertains to their livelihoods) is not something that I want to have to contend with.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Moving on, there are certain awesome form factors that you can’t build into even if you want to. Take, for instance, <a title="alienware alpha" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/alienware_alpha_review2015" target="_blank">Alienware’s Alpha</a>. While the PC has its issues, at 4.5 pounds, the computer is little larger than an Xbox 360 controller and works great as a living room PC that’s easy to take over to a friend’s house. Seriously, the Alienware Alpha and its 10-foot UI can do wonders for PC gaming in the living room, and that’s not something you can duplicate exactly.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><img src="http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u154082/alienware_steam.jpg" width="620" height="413" /></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Alienware Alpha is a super portable living room/gaming PC.</strong></p>
<p>And if you want to build into beautiful chassis like <a title="aventum 3" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/ces_2015_spying_digital_storms_stunning_aventum_3_pc_video" target="_blank">Digital Storm’s Aventum III</a> or Origin PC’s <a title="millenium genesis" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/origin_pc_genesis_overview_video_2014" target="_blank">Millenium Genesis</a>, you can’t, as those system vendors design their cases just for their PCs. And let me tell you, if you haven’t seen them up close with their awesome lights and custom loop coolers, I’ll tell ya, they are things of beauty. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I certainly couldn’t machine and build PCs that beautiful myself. In addition, these system vendors take the time to overclock the internal components and spend hundreds of hours running vigorous tests to make sure they run stable.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dI7sc32DEbs" width="620" height="349" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Aventum 3 is a beautiful pre-built PC that most people can't build.</strong></p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we should all buy pre-built PCs. I know I’ll be building PCs until the day I die, but in my humble opinion, if someone wants to buy a pre-built PC, they have their reasons, and in this day and age, there are plenty of good reasons to buy pre-built. Hopefully, they’ll spend the time to upgrade their pre-built PC over time, and take it upon themselves to build their next one. After all, didn’t most of us DIYers start off with a pre-built?</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/its_ok_buy_pre-built_column_2015#commentsalienwareBuild a PCbuycomputercyberpowerDigital StormDIYibuypowermaximum pcorigin pcprebuiltFeaturesWed, 25 Feb 2015 20:20:11 +0000Jimmy Thang29463 at http://www.maximumpc.comAsus Sees Rise in Do-It-Yourself Motherboard Saleshttp://www.maximumpc.com/asus_sees_rise_do-it-yourself_motherboard_sales_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/asus_mobo_0.jpg" alt="Asus Mobo" title="Asus Mobo" width="228" height="151" style="float: right;" />Score a point in favor of the home brewed PC</h3>
<p>You don't have to sell us on the merits of building a PC from scratch -- it's what we've been doing for decades, and it's one of the core principles of our brand. Heck, the desire to roll your own rig may have even been what prompted you to pick up your very first issue of <em>Maximum PC</em> (or <em>Boot</em>). Well, we're embarking on a new year, and already there's evidence that this passion of ours is yet again in great shape -- the numbers are in from <strong>Asus, which shipped 5.6 million DIY motherboards in the fourth quarter of 2014 alone</strong>.</p>
<p>The strong finish bumped the company's full year DIY mobo shipments to 22 million units, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent, <a href="http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20150110PD203.html" target="_blank"><em>Digitimes</em> reports</a>. In other words, there's growing interest in building a home brewed PC.</p>
<p>Asus' DIY motherboard shipments outpaced its laptop sales, which itself saw growth as well. The company shipped 20.1 million notebooks in 2014, representing an on-year growth rate of 6.9 percent, along with two million desktops, nearly 9.4 million tablets, and over 8 million smartphones.</p>
<p>We'll have to wait and see how those figures compare with Gigabyte, especially the motherboard shipments -- the two companies were in a fierce race to outsell one another, with Asus in a small lead for most, if not all of 2014.</p>
<p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="https://plus.google.com/+PaulLilly?rel=author" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Paul.B.Lilly" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/asus_sees_rise_do-it-yourself_motherboard_sales_2014#commentsasusBuild a PCDIYHardwaremotherboardsNewsMon, 12 Jan 2015 17:26:47 +0000Paul Lilly29242 at http://www.maximumpc.comBuild a DIY Micro-Tower PC with Liquid Coolinghttp://www.maximumpc.com/build_it_diy_micro-tower_liquid_cooling_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Most people would never build their own small form factor PC, fill it with high-end hardware, liquid-cool it, then overclock it. Luckily, we’re not most people</h3>
<p>The Mission The interest in small form factor (SFF) computing seems to have reached a fever pitch over the past few months, but boutique system builders tell us they’ve been selling an S-load of them for some time now. The reason for their popularity is not hard to understand—they pack all the firepower of a full-sized ATX machine but take up half the space due to clever engineering. It takes equally clever building to fit a full-sized video card, an internal power supply, storage devices, and even liquid cooling into such a tiny box. That's no small feat, and to be honest, it sounded like just the kind of challenge that we wanted to take on for Build It. The problem is, the micro-tower form factor hasn't been around very long, so it still has some kinks to work out. We've worked with several of these systems over the past few months, and the degree of usability varies quite a bit. However, Silverstone recently announced the Raven RVZ01, a case that seems to have the ease-of-use that we like; plus, the company has demo'd the chassis using a liquid-cooling system, which we found downright nifty. All we had to do was get our hands on one and go to work.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/beauty_shot_small_25.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/beauty_shot_small_24.jpg" width="620" height="742" /></a></p>
<h4>Birds of a Feather</h4>
<p>To construct a PC inside a mini-tower like the Raven, you really have to be prepared to build in a completely different way than you have before, and using some atypical parts, too. For example, in this case (which is a preproduction model, so retail units might differ slightly) the optical drive bay only holds a "slim" design, as its front bezel is less than half the size of a standard 5.25-inch drive. The power supply is also not standard ATX: a Silverstone ST45SF-G from the company’s SFF SFX line of PSUs designed for tiny rigs like this. It can't supply as much juice as a full-size ATX power supply because it's so small, but it’s still able to throw down 450 watts. Surprisingly, this is actually enough wattage for a system with a single video card and a relatively efficient Intel Haswell CPU.</p>
<p>When we say “single card,” we mean any single-GPU card you can find, as there’s more than enough room for even super-long boards. We stuffed an <a title="780 ti" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/nvidia_geforce_gtx_780_ti_benchmarks" target="_blank">Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti</a> into our box and had plenty of room left over (We know at the time of online publish, the 780 Ti is being phased out by the newer <a title="980" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/nvidia_geforce_gtx_980_review2014" target="_blank">GTX 980</a>, but if you act now, you should be able to find them <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&amp;DEPA=0&amp;Order=BESTMATCH&amp;Description=780+ti&amp;N=-1&amp;isNodeId=1" target="_blank">pretty cheap</a>). (We could have fit a dual-GPU card, but the power supply wouldn't be able to handle that.) There’s also enough room for a 3.5-inch hard drive in the RVZ01, in addition to two 2.5-inch drives, but we ended up sacrificing our 3.5-inch drive to the liquid-cooling gods. Since we were using an expensive CPU cooler, we figured we might as well go top-shelf all around, so we went with Intel's Core i7-4770K CPU and the Maximum VI Impact motherboard from Asus.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="module orange-module article-module"><strong><span class="module-name">INGREDIENTS</span></strong></div>
<div class="spec-table orange">
<table style="width: 627px; height: 270px;" border="0">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="head-empty"> </th>
<th class="head-light">PART</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>Case</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">Silverstone Raven RVZ01</td>
<td>
<p><strong>$100</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>PSU</strong></td>
<td>Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W</td>
<td><strong>$100</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>Mobo</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">Asus Maximus VI Impact</td>
<td><strong>$230</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>CPU</strong></td>
<td>Intel Core i7-4770K</td>
<td><strong>$325<br /></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Cooler</strong></td>
<td>Corsair Hydro H75</td>
<td><strong>$85</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>GPU</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti</td>
<td><strong>$700<br /></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>RAM</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance LP</td>
<td><strong>$160<br /></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>SSD</strong></td>
<td>Corsair Neutron GTX 480GB</td>
<td><strong>$400<br /></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Optical Drive</strong></td>
<td>Silverstone SOD02 8x DVD Burner</td>
<td><strong>$70</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Cables</strong></td>
<td>Silverstone PP05-E Flat Power Cable Kit</td>
<td><strong>$25</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>OS</strong></td>
<td>Windows 8.1 64-bit OEM</td>
<td><strong>$100</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Total</strong></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><strong>$1,983</strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<h4>1. Prey Drive</h4>
<p>Since this Build It is more of an experiment than a full-fledged gaming or productivity system, we felt comfortable sticking to just one solid-state drive (SSD) for our storage needs. One of the main benefits of using just an SSD in a small system like this is that it cuts down on the cabling we'd need to wrestle with later, which can take up a surprising amount of space. An SSD is also much smaller than a desktop mechanical drive and makes no noise since it has no moving parts. In the RVZ01, SSDs are mounted on a detachable section that also holds the video card and the optical drive. This design makes the SSD quite easy to access, and adding a second drive is easy, too.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/a_small_27.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/a_small_26.jpg" title="Image A" width="620" height="413" /></a></p>
<h4>2. Mother-birds</h4>
<p>The RVZ01 features an “inverted” design, so we had to flip the Asus Maximus VI Impact motherboard upside down and rotate it 180 degrees, which is why the connectors in the photo look backward. The case’s side panel that's behind the motherboard tray is permanently attached, so we had to install the liquid cooler's backplate before we installed the motherboard. This motherboard also has a riser card that needs to be installed if you want to take advantage of the mobo’s integrated sound. There's another optional add-in card that offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, which contains yet another connector, this time for M.2—the successor to mSATA, which is designed for ultrabooks and other systems too small to fit an SSD. And there's a third pre-installed riser at the bottom of the board containing extra capacitors for overclocking. We removed the riser's two screws, because those holes double as motherboard mounting points. Then we put the I/O shield in the case, followed by the board.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/b_small_22.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/b_small_21.jpg" title="Image B" width="620" height="930" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>3. Bird on a Wire</h4>
<p>Inside this black cage is the junior-sized Silverstone power supply. The cage is attached to the case with four standard screws. Take those out, slide the PSU in with its connectors facing up and its intake fan facing toward the fan grill on the side panel, secure it to the bottom of the cage with the four provided screws, and put the whole thing back in. We routed most of the front-panel wiring underneath the cage, to leave more room up top for other wires. The short flat cables come from Silverstone's PP05-E flat power cable kit, which is sold separately from the PSU. They are highly flexible and a godsend in tight quarters like these.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/c_small_25.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/c_small_24.jpg" width="620" height="413" /></a></p>
<h4>4. Eagle Eyes</h4>
<p>This removable ledge contains the optical drive and a platform for the GPU. As you can see, only a "slim" style of optical drive will fit, and luckily, Silverstone has one named the SOD02, which is an 8x DVD burner. Sure, it’s not a BD-R drive and it's not cheap, but if you need an optical drive in this case, you don't have a ton of options. To install it you have to remove the top half of the case's interior by removing six Phillips screws around the rim, and the drive slides into the front. The mounting holes for the optical drive were too small for the heads of the screws that come with the drive, so we couldn't put them in. You need to use the screws that come with the case, instead. The drive was surprisingly snug without the screws anyway, so we just left it "loose" in the slot.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/d_small_21.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/d_small_20.jpg" title="Image D" width="620" height="553" /></a></p>
<h4>5. Spreading Our Wings</h4>
<p>The detachable section is also where we installed the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti. We could shave about $450 off this build and go with a more moderately tuned GPU like a GTX 760, but we wanted to see if both the case and PSU could handle a full-powered and full-sized GPU. We chose&nbsp; the GTX 780 Ti because it's currently the fastest single-GPU available, and produces a decent amount of heat, too. To install it, we had to first plug the GPU into a PCI Express riser card, then attach the PCIe power cables to the card before putting this entire section back into the case; the connectors on the card become inaccessible once it’s installed. To make the cabling nice and neat (again, we used those flexible flat cables) we strung them behind the card and curled the cable over the top and into the connectors. Once everything was connected, we plugged the whole contraption back into the case, with the riser pictured below going right into the motherboard's x16 PCIe slot.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/e_small_19.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/e_small_18.jpg" title="Image E" width="620" height="447" /></a></p>
<h4>6. Survival of the Fittest</h4>
<p>CPU cooling duties were handled by a Corsair H75 unit, but to get it to fit we had to swap out the standard 120mm fan, which was too chunky. Instead, we used the slim fan that was pre-installed on the side panel. Although this fan allows us to install the radiator on this super-slim case and still get the door to close, the size of the fan blades mean it won’t be able to move as much air as a larger fan. Also, since the fan is thinner we had to use shorter #6-32 3/4-inch machine screws that we bought at a local hardware store to attach it to the radiator. The H75 is a good choice for a small form factor case like this one because of its flexible and relatively narrow tubes. We looped the tubes toward the front of the case, then back, to keep them out of the way of the radiator. We experimented with intake vs. exhaust and push vs. pull; in the end , we went with push exhaust (though pull exhaust is shown in the photos).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/f_small_20.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/f_small_19.jpg" title="Image F" width="620" height="413" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/main_image_small_16.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/main_image_small_15.jpg" width="620" height="461" /></a></p>
<h3>Something to Crow About</h3>
<p>For a micro-tower, the RVZ01 has particularly accessible areas for the video card, storage devices, and power supply. We've had buzz-killing frustrations installing those components into smaller enclosures before, so the design of this chassis was definitely to our liking. Unfortunately, the case’s smaller dimensions meant that cooling was a challenge. The GTX 780 Ti was getting plenty of air, but we struggled to push the CPU beyond its stock specifications. We first ran it up to 4.2GHz, but in extended testing under load, temps were hovering at 90 C when running the x264 encoding benchmark. That's not good, and too hot for our tastes. We've overclocked with the H75 in a tight space before (February 2014 issue), so we knew the cooler could handle the task. Upon investigation, we realized the case's stock "slim" fan that we attached to the Corsair H75's radiator doesn't have a lot of focused air pressure, so it's not great for cooling a rad. (Silverstone makes some excellent high-pressure fans, but they won't fit here.) There's also no intake fan in this part of the case, and no exhaust fans at all. Because of these issues, we ended up running the CPU at stock clocks, but with the motherboard's "Multi-Core Enhancement" pushing all CPU cores to the same speed when under load. Without MCE or manual tweaking, several cores will run below the chip's "turbo boost" rating of 3.9GHz.</p>
<p>We had much better luck with the video card. Despite the GTX 780 Ti having a stock cooler, we were able to overclock the core by 100MHz and the memory by 400MHz (effective), thanks in part to the 120mm intake fan right next to the card. At 4K/UHD, we sustained over 80 FPS in Batman Arkham City, with just PhysX and anti-aliasing disabled. A more demanding game like Hitman Absolution was in the mid-40s, and Tomb Raider (2013) was in the low 30s. That’s still very respectable for a single GPU with a stock cooler. Our seemingly “underpowered” 450-watt power supply chugged right along and was totally stable. We plugged in a power meter and discovered that the system didn't draw over 350 watts during the gaming benchmarks, which would be the heaviest real-world usage.</p>
<p>This build was an experiment from the start, so a lack of CPU overclocking was more a learning experience than a shortfall. There's only so much space in a micro-tower to get fancy with CPU cooling. You're probably better off with a "cube" micro-tower for that.</p>
<div class="module orange-module article-module"><strong><span class="module-name">Benchmarks</span></strong><br />
<div class="spec-table orange">
<table style="width: 627px; height: 270px;" border="0">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="head-empty"> </th>
<th class="head-light">
<p style="font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; text-align: start;"><strong>ZERO</strong></p>
<p style="font-size: 10px; font-weight: normal; text-align: start;"><strong>POINT</strong></p>
</th>
<th></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="item">Premiere Pro CS6 (sec)</td>
<td class="item-dark">2,000</td>
<td><span style="text-align: center;">2,544<strong> (-21.2%)<br /></strong></span><strong>&nbsp;</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Stitch.Efx 2.0 (sec)</td>
<td>831</td>
<td><span style="text-align: center;">829</span><strong>&nbsp;</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item">ProShow Producer 5.0 (sec)</td>
<td class="item-dark">1,446</td>
<td>1415<strong><br /></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>x264 HD 5.0 (fps)</td>
<td>21.1</td>
<td>17 <strong>(-19.5%)</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Batmans Arkam City (fps)</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>78<strong>&nbsp;</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item">3 DMark 11</td>
<td class="item-dark">5,847&nbsp;</td>
<td>5,393 <strong>(-7.7%)</strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<p><span style="font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold;"><em>The zero-point machine compared here consists of a 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K and 16GB of Corsair DDR3/1600 on an Asus P9X79 Deluxe motherboard. It has a GeForce GTX 690, a Corsair Neutron GTX SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.</em></span></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/build_it_diy_micro-tower_liquid_cooling_2014#commentsapril issues 2014BuildDIYfeatureliquid coolingmaximum pcmicro towerwater cooledFeaturesWed, 01 Oct 2014 23:20:33 +0000Tom McNamara28104 at http://www.maximumpc.comPart 1 of Mod Zoo's Guide to PC Liquid Cooling [Video]http://www.maximumpc.com/part_1_mod_zoos_guide_pc_liquid_cooling_video_2014
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/liquid_cooling.jpg" alt="Liquid Cooling" title="Liquid Cooling" width="228" height="169" style="float: right;" />Choosing the right components</h3>
<p>If you're not already familiar with Mnpctech, take a moment out of your day to familiarize yourself with the company. Founded 12 years ago by Bill Owen, a name you probably recognize if you've been reading <em>Maximum PC</em> for some time (check out our <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/Case_Modding_King_Interview_2014">interview with him</a> from earlier this year) or are into the modding scene, Mnpctech kicks out some of the most badass case mods you'll ever see. Interestingly enough, in a recent conversation with Owen, <strong>he told us he's been receiving requests for the past several years to make a video series covering the basics of water cooling with a DIY loop</strong>, so he finally went and put one together. Here's part 1.</p>
<p>"As you know, there's a wide array of opinions and myths about which brand or size of components to use. I've recruited two of the most knowledgeable guys to talk about everything they learned," Owen told <em>Maximum PC</em>.</p>
<p>Embedded below is the first part of the series featuring Jesse (or Captain Curry Sauce, if you prefer) and Chris (or Mosquito) from <a href="http://www.themodzoo.com/" target="_blank"><em>TheModZoo.com</em></a>. If you've already dabbled with self-contained all-in-one kits and always wanted to dive into the deep end of liquid cooling, you'll find a wealth of information here to make sure you don't sink, such as the correct way to route thinner versus thicker tubing, and much more. Check it out:</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1d5ULuiy7Po" width="620" height="349" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="https://plus.google.com/+PaulLilly?rel=author" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Paul.B.Lilly" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/part_1_mod_zoos_guide_pc_liquid_cooling_video_2014#commentsBill OwenDIYhardawreliquid coolingmnpctechthe mod zoowater coolingNewsWed, 09 Jul 2014 16:12:44 +0000Paul Lilly28135 at http://www.maximumpc.comiFixIt Announces $100 'Refurbisher's Toolkit' for DIY Gadget Repairhttp://www.maximumpc.com/ifixit_announces_100_refurbishers_toolkit_diy_gadget_repair
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/refurbisherstoolkit.jpg" alt="iFixIt Refurbisher's Toolkit" title="iFixIt Refurbisher's Toolkit" width="228" height="200" style="float: right;" />Specially designed to service game consoles, PCs, laptops, and other electronics gear</h3>
<p>The tech surgeons at <em>iFixIt</em> haven't met a gadget yet that they couldn't open up and dissect. Patience and a steady hand are needed to gut an electronic device without leaving a wake of broken parts, but like anything else, having the right tools makes a world of difference. We're not talking about hammers and duct tape -- essentials for DIY repair of another kind -- but plastic and metal spudgers. <strong>You'll find both plus a whole lot more in <em>iFixIt's </em>Refurbisher's Toolkit</strong>.</p>
<p>It's a bit pricey for the casual hobbyist at $100, but if you're the go-to guy or gal in your neighborhood for repairing electronics, there are several tools in the kit that could make your life a bit easier. For example, there's an Xbox Opening Tool specifically designed to crack open the plastic case on the original Xbox 360. It's not a necessary part to get at the guts of Microsoft's previous generation console, but it should save you time from having to pry each of the clips holding the case together.</p>
<p>The kit also includes ESD tweezers, a dust blower, anti-static wrist strap, 26-bit driver kit, surface detailing block, German detailing eraser with bruse, pencil sharpener, small ESD safe brush, large ESD safe brush, 1/4-inch driver handle (Philips #2, flathead 6mm, game bit 4.5mm, game bit 3.8mm), and a custom carrying case.</p>
<p><img src="/files/u69/xbox_opening_tool.jpg" alt="Xbox Opening Tool" title="Xbox Opening Tool" width="620" height="336" /></p>
<p>We haven't sampled a Refurbisher's Toolkit so there's no hands-on experience from our end to relay, though we have used <em>iFixIt's</em> collection of spudgers, which do indeed come in handy for prying open things like smartphones and tablets.</p>
<p>You can find more information and/or order a Refurbisher's Toolkit on <a href="http://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Refurbishers-Toolkit/IF145-253" target="_blank"><em>iFixIt's</em> website</a>.</p>
<p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="https://plus.google.com/+PaulLilly?rel=author" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Paul.B.Lilly" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/ifixit_announces_100_refurbishers_toolkit_diy_gadget_repair#commentsDIYelectronicsifixitrefurbisher's toolkitrepairtoolsNewsTue, 15 Apr 2014 14:26:10 +0000Paul Lilly27639 at http://www.maximumpc.comPuget Systems Pitches Virtues of Prebuilt Versus DIY Based on Component Failure Rateshttp://www.maximumpc.com/puget_systems_pitches_virtues_prebuilt_versus_diy_based_component_failure_rates2013
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/puget_systems_0.jpg" alt="Puget Systems" title="Puget Systems" width="228" height="207" style="float: right;" />Kingston emerges as one of Puget Systems' most reliable brands of 2013</h3>
<p>Boutique system builder <strong>Puget Systems</strong> recently wrote an interesting piece that both gives readers a glimpse of what the company found to be the most reliable hardware of the past year, and makes a case for buying a prebuilt system over going the do-it-yourself (DIY) route. Based on Puget's own data, a prebuilt system is roughly five times less likely to have a hardware failure than one you built yourself.</p>
<p>Let's back the boat a moment. Puget builds a lot of systems so it's in a unique position (compared to an end user) to analyze which components and brands are the most reliable based on failure rates. The company shared that info in a blog post, noting that it only considered items it's dealt with in bulk.</p>
<p>"Since we are a custom computer company and do at times special order in components to meet a customer's specific needs, there is one stipulation we are imposing on what hardware we will be allowing into this list," Puget explains. "Specifically, we are only considering high volume items from our product line so that we have a large enough sample size to make an informed call on the reliability of the component."</p>
<p>Based on Puget's failure reports, there were four motherboards that stood out, each with zero failures in 2013. Three of them were from Asus (P8B-M, P9D-M, and F2A85-V Pro) and one was from MSI (FM2-A75IA-E53). As for CPUs, the failure rate was so small -- a combined 0.39 percent for both AMD and Intel combined -- that Puget decided to keep it simple and say that every CPU in 2013 is "incredibly reliable."</p>
<p>Where things get interesting is the RAM. Puget says it almost exclusively uses Kingston brand RAM these days because it keeps proving itself more reliable than the competition.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u69/kingston_lovo.jpg" alt="Kingston LoVo" title="Kingston LoVo" width="364" height="142" /></p>
<p>"Any time we tried any of the other prominent brands (when Kingston was either in shortage or did not offer exactly what we wanted), we almost always ended up moving back to Kingston once we were able," Puget stated. "This is primarily due to the fact that as a whole, Kingston is as much as three to four times more reliable than other brands."</p>
<p>We reached out to Puget Systems founder Jon Bach to find out which other brands his company tried and were told it gave volume orders to OCZ, Corsair, and Patriot at one point or another. Based on a sample size of 3,000 to 4,000 PCs for each of those brands, the failure rates repeatedly pushed Puget back towards Kingston. Bach says his company also has a "little experience" with Crucial/Micron, though not enough to make a public claim about its reliability (it was still less reliable than Kingston based on a small sample size).</p>
<p>Moving on, Puget lists out reliable components in several other categories before comparing a prebuilt system with a home brewed one. Through its <a href="http://www.pugetsystems.com/included.php?inc=checklist" target="_blank">qualification process</a>, Puget is able to weed out faulty components so that the chance of failure is greatly reduced to the end user. For example, the overall failure rate of an AMD-brand graphics card is 10.09 percent, but that figure drops to 1.83 percent for the end user once Puget weeds out the bad eggs, so to speak. For Intel motherboards, the overall failure rate is 4.71 percent versus 0.47 percent of the end user.</p>
<p>When you combine all the components, there's a 14.43 percent of a hardware failure in a home built Intel machine with Nvidia graphics, and 20.4 percent change of a hardware failure in home brewed AMD rig with Radeon graphics. Because Puget is able to detect and eliminate parts that are faulty from the get-go, those figures drop down to 3.3 percent and 3.66 percent, respectively, for end users who buy a pre-built system from Puget. In other words, a system built by Puget is about five times less likely to have a hardware failure than a DIY system.</p>
<p>"Keep in mind that these numbers are only true for Puget Systems computers/hardware and won't be true for every computer manufacturer out there. Here at Puget Systems we put our computers through a very rigorous testing process so we are much more likely to find hardware problems before the customer receives the machine than most other companies," Puget says.</p>
<p>Interesting stuff. Give the <a href="http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Most-Reliable-Hardware-of-2013-528/" target="_blank">blog post a once over</a> and then post your thoughts in the comment section!</p>
<p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="https://plus.google.com/+PaulLilly?rel=author" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Paul.B.Lilly" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/puget_systems_pitches_virtues_prebuilt_versus_diy_based_component_failure_rates2013#commentsDIYdo it yourselfOEMprebuiltPuget SystemsrigsNewsFri, 27 Dec 2013 19:25:08 +0000Paul Lilly26961 at http://www.maximumpc.comHow to Build: All-in-One PChttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/build_aio_2013
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Build your own All-in-One PC!</h3>
<p>The <strong>all-in-one PC</strong> is predicted to be one of the hottest PC form factors over the next few years. That’s great for Joe 12-Pack, but for an enthusiast, an AiO is pretty much as monolithic as you can get. Sure, you might be able to add RAM or swap the HDD, but that’s usually the extent of the average AiO’s upgradeability.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/first_1_6.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/first_1_5.jpg" title="First Image" width="620" height="661" /></a></p>
<p>Enter <a title="intel" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/Intel_0" target="_blank">Intel</a>’s new push for the DIY AiO, the ﬁrst serious attempt at building a standard around this practice. All-in-one bare-bones kits have likely been available before, but Intel’s backing formalizes it as a real DIY category. The big change is the Thin MiniITX, which speciﬁes far slimmer mobo proﬁles than regular Mini ITX, as well as ﬁxing a spot where the CPU can be installed. The ﬁxed CPU location enables standard heat pipe–type cooling solutions as an option, whereas Mini ITX allowed vendors to put the CPU anywhere on the board.</p>
<p>To get our feet wet, we decided to build a nicely outﬁtted AiO to see how it would compare spec-wise to a prebuilt peer. The result? You’ll have to read to the end, but we’ll be a clock tease and say that a DIY AiO might be just the way to go.</p>
<h3>Choosing the Hardware</h3>
<p>The First step of building an AiO is finding the chassis. Since Intel has been the main driver behind a standard, a good place to start is <a title="build aio pc" href="http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/hardware-developers/thin-mini-itx.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The DIY site has numerous resource for builders. We recommend that you start with the <a title="design component catalog" href="http://intel.ly/UxUKPT" target="_blank">Design Component Catalog</a>&nbsp;as well as the <a title="compatibility matrix" href="http://intel.ly/VzcHfv" target="_blank">Compatibility Matrix</a>. Remember, the standard is evolving and we’re not at the point of desktops, where 98 percent of hardware is compatible. For example, some of the AiO models use proprietary coolers while others can use the standard Intel part. AiO units that don’t use the standard Intel heat pipe should ship with their own. Also keep in mind the thermal constraints of an AiO before you buy the parts.</p>
<p>Our build started with a <a title="loop l5 chassis" href="http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Loop-Chas-Lp-2150-cap08loopaio/dp/B008L3T6W6" target="_blank">Loop L5 LP-2150 chassis</a>. The chassis features a 21.5-inch panel and normally comes without the cooler and power brick for about $265. We did find some sites offering it packaged with the Intel cooler and a power brick though, for a small savings. The board we used is an Intel DH61AG. It supports an external power brick–type connector and up to a 65-watt TDP desktop processor. For our build, we tapped the quad-core 3.1GHz Core i5-3570S chip, which is nearly the same as the Core i7-3770S save for the Hyper-Threading. For storage, the board supports Mini PCIe SSDs and standard 2.5-inch drives. For our build, we opted for an Intel 240GB 335 Series SSD. Finally, we went with a pair of Patriot 4GB SO-DIMMs.</p>
<div class="module orange-module article-module"><strong><span class="module-name">INGREDIENTS</span></strong></div>
<div class="spec-table orange">
<table style="width: 627px; height: 270px;" border="0">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="head-empty"> </th>
<th class="head-light">PART</th>
<th>URL</th>
<th>Price</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><strong>Chassis</strong></td>
<td>Loop L5 LP-2150</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.loopint.com/">www.loopint.com</a></td>
<td><span style="font-weight: bold;">$265</span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>Case</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">Core i5-3570S</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.intel.pk/content/www/pk/en/homepage.html">www.intel.com</a></td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: bold;">$205</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>RAM</strong></td>
<td>8GB Patriot DDR3/1333</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.patriotmemory.com/">www.patriotmemory.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$38</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>Motherboard</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">Intel DH61AG</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.intel.pk/content/www/pk/en/homepage.html">www.intel.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$120</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Cooler</strong></td>
<td>Intel HTS1155LP</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.intel.pk/content/www/pk/en/homepage.html">www.intel.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$27</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>PSU</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">FSP 150-ABAN1</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.fspgroupusa.com/">www.fspgroupusa.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$48</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item"><strong>Wi-Fi</strong></td>
<td class="item-dark">Intel 62230AN.HMWG Wi-Fi card</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.intel.pk/content/www/pk/en/homepage.html">www.intel.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$24</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>SSD</strong></td>
<td>Intel 240GB 335 SSD</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.intel.pk/content/www/pk/en/homepage.html">www.intel.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$200</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>ODD</strong></td>
<td>LG 12.7m GT60N 8x DVD+R combo drive</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.lg.com/ae">www.lg.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$28</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>OS</strong></td>
<td>Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit</td>
<td><a class="thickbox" href="http://www.microsoft.com">www.microsoft.com</a></td>
<td><strong>$99</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><strong>Total</strong></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><strong>$1,054</strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;">Click the next page to see each installation step.</span></p>
<hr />
<h4>1. Prepare the Chassis</h4>
<p>To open the Loop L5, lay it facedown on a clean, nonscratch surface and remove the five screws on back. Now, with the opening for the I/O shield facing you, gently push the tip of your screwdriver on the metal next to the exhaust vent while carefully pulling up on the chassis with your fingers <strong>(image A)</strong> until the back pops off just a bit. Then, carefully pry off the back, starting at the USB ports and headphone ports <strong>(image B)</strong>. You’ll use this same process to access the guts of the AiO for future upgrades.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/a_1_4.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/a_1_3.jpg" title="Image A" width="620" height="541" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/b_1_2.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/b_1_1.jpg" title="Image B" width="620" height="494" /></a></p>
<h4>2. Install Drives, CPU and RAM</h4>
<p>We’ll skip the usual illustration of mounting the optical drive and SSD/HDD in the caddies and screwing them down, as the process is well known to most Maximum PC readers, but you can go ahead and do this now. (For new builders, Intel provides thorough video instructions for building a system in the Loop <a title="intel video" href="http://intel.ly/TPWoyQ" target="_blank">here</a>). Likewise, you’ve seen us install RAM and the CPU dozens of times; now is a good time to do that, as well. With the board out, you should also slot the Wi-Fi card into the Mini PCIe slot nearest the PCIe slot. Then, install the I/O shield.</p>
<h4>3. Install the Backplate</h4>
<p>To Use the Stock Intel thermal cooler, you’ll need to install the backplate that comes with the kit. It sticks on with<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>an adhesive pad <strong>(image C)</strong>. The chassis should also have come with a thick thermal pad that gets mounted to the back of the motherboard, under the voltage regulation modules, or, if you can aim properly, to the chassis itself <strong>(image D)</strong>. It mounts using an adhesive, so choose wisely. Now, mount the motherboard and screw it in place. As always, pay special attention to how the openings in the I/O shield line up with the motherboard before you screw it down (i.e., make sure the metal fingers coming off the I/O shield don’t jam into the ports.)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/c_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/c_1.jpg" title="Image C" width="540" height="563" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/d_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/d_1.jpg" title="Image D" width="540" height="566" /></a></p>
<h4>4. Install the Cooler</h4>
<p>With the Motherboard in place, it’s time to screw the cooler in place. The cooler should have an Intel thermal pad in place. If yours doesn’t, or you are mounting it for a second time, <a title="thermal paste" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_properly_apply_thermal_paste_and_install_cpu" target="_blank">add a small bit of thermal paste</a> to the CPU and spread it out with a plastic bag across the surface of the heat spreader. Use the four screws to mount the cooler to the backplate <strong>(image E)</strong>, and also screw down the two screws at the end of the heat pipe.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/e_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/e_1.jpg" title="Image E" width="620" height="492" /></a></p>
<h4>5. Push aside the Speaker</h4>
<p>It’s Pretty tight in the AiO, so for removing or installing cables, you’ll have to remove or simply move the speaker on the left side of the machine. Just undo one screw and move the speaker out of the way <strong>(image F)</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/f_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/f_1.jpg" title="Image F" width="620" height="378" /></a></p>
<h4>6. Plug in the Panel</h4>
<p>The Panel uses a delicate internal LVDS connector. While at first glance it appears to go in either way, the connector is keyed <strong>(image G)</strong>. Carefully insert the cable into the LVDS port and then use a small object, such as a flat-head screwdriver, to carefully push it into place by alternatively nudging on each side of the connector while holding one side with your finger <strong>(image H)</strong>. Once it’s in place, don’t ever remove the LVDS connector by tugging on the ribbon cable. If you have to remove it, use a small flat-head screwdriver to slowly nudge it out from the sides.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/g_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/g_1.jpg" title="Image G" width="540" height="552" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/h_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/h_1.jpg" title="Image H" width="540" height="564" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Click the next page to learn how to plug in the audio, wifi, and for the final stages.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4 style="font-size: 10px;">7. Plug in the Inverter</h4>
<p>Unlike a Desktop monitor, which is powered by its own power brick or internal AC/DC device, the AiO needs to be powered from the motherboard. To do that you need to plug the 7-pin connector into the red header next to the LVDS connector <strong>(image I)</strong>. This is also keyed to only fit in one way and should snap into place. Once that’s done, follow the cable out to the end where you should find another connector. This gets plugged into the inverter board, which is the small orange, rectangular PCB to the left of the speaker <strong>(image J)</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/i_1_1.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/i_1_0.jpg" title="Image I" width="540" height="383" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/j_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/j_1.jpg" title="Image J" width="540" height="381" /></a></p>
<h4>8. Bring tht Noise</h4>
<p>Again, Everything in the AiO uses internal headers rather than external ports. If you want to use the AiO’s internal speakers, you’ll need to plug them in using the 4-pin header located near the Wi-Fi card and CMOS battery <strong>(image K)</strong>. It’s keyed to only fit in one direction.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/k_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/k_1.jpg" title="Image K" width="620" height="260" /></a></p>
<h4>9. Connect Wi-Fi</h4>
<p>Some AIO units come with multiple antennas, but Loop chose a single antenna for this chassis. We won’t debate the wisdom of a single antenna, but it can create some confusion for newbs. Just look for the small gray antenna lead and plug it into the port labeled “Main 1” on the Wi-Fi card. It should snap into the socket with light pressure <strong>(image L)</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/l_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/l_1.jpg" title="Image L" width="620" height="248" /></a></p>
<h4>10. Set the Voltage</h4>
<p>You need to configure the motherboard’s headers for the correct voltage. First, check the 3-pin header next to the “FPD Power” inverter header that you plugged in earlier. By default, it should be set to pins 2 and 3, or 19 volts, which is correct for the Loop <strong>(image M)</strong>. You’ll want to check the manuals for your AiO and your motherboard, as setting the voltage incorrectly can damage the inverter. You also need to set a secondary inverter header to the correct voltage. This header is located near the front-panel connector and should be set to pins 4 and 6, for 5 volts <strong>(image N)</strong>. This is the default position for the Intel motherboard and the correct voltage for the Loop.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/m_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/m_1.jpg" title="Image M" width="520" height="545" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/n_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/n_1.jpg" title="Image N" width="520" height="542" /></a></p>
<h4>11. Connect Final Plugs and Button up</h4>
<p>You’ll also need to plug in the three USB headers as well as power and data cables for the optical drive and SSD, and you need to plug the SATA power cable into the motherboard. All that needs to be done now is to attach the back cover (while you plug the cover’s auxiliary fan into an open fan header) and attach the stand. Now, just plug in your power brick and fire her up!</p>
<h4>12. Well, almost...</h4>
<p>Intel’s Motherboard comes in an older rev, the G23736- 503, and a newer rev, the G23736-504. If your board is a 504 or up, drive on. If it’s older, you’ll need to update the BIOS because the older board defaults to external graphics rather than the LVDS connector. No worries, you can update the board by just dropping the latest BIOS from the Intel website in the root of a USB key, removing the jumper from the BIOS_CFG header, and booting the machine. The board should automatically update after two minutes. Once the rig’s blue system LED stops flashing, you can power down, replace the BIOS_CFG header, and move on. Even if you have the newer board, there is one setting you need to change. Go into the BIOS and then into the Video settings, and in the setting for All-in-One Chassis, set it to the chassis in use. In this case, it’s the LP-2150. It’s recommended that you then lock the settings so they can’t be changed without going into maintenance mode.</p>
<p><em>Click the next page to see the system's benchmarks!</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/final_1_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/final_1.jpg" title="Final Image" width="620" height="500" /></a></p>
<h3>DIY AIO SHOWS A LOT OF PROMISE</h3>
<p>Building the average desktop PC has long been a labor of love. Sure, in the old days you could save a serious chunk of change when you built your own rig, but these days it’s pretty hard to get a better price than a large or even medium OEM that buys parts by the container-full. That’s apparently not the case with all-in-ones, where it’s possible for builders to have a price edge. Lenovo, for example, offers a 20-inch AiO with the same CPU, 180GB SSD, and 4GB of RAM for about the same price as our Loop build. Granted, some OEMs offer a feature not available to this platform—a discrete GPU. That’s actually one of the holes we see in the current push for a DIY platform. Why no GPU provision? In the past, graphics vendors haven’t been the greatest at sticking to specs, so that could be the reason, but we think a unified AiO graphics spec is necessary if this category is really going to take off.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As to how our AiO performed—not bad. Our zero-point AiO is an Asus ET2701 INKI-B046C with a Core i7-3770S and GeForce GT 640M. Naturally, the $1,500 Asus, with its 27-inch panel, pricier CPU, and discrete graphics outshines our Loop build, but it’s a good reference for what our DIY AiO can do. Clearly, that extra $400 on the zero-point gets you more performance. Our DIY AiO performed respectably though, except in gaming. Intel HD4000 graphics are probably best suited for Portal 2–level and lower gaming. For today’s integrated graphics, Metro 2033 is way beyond its pay grade.</p>
<p>Overall, we’re pretty happy with the brave new world of DIY AiOs. Yes, it has some maturing to do, but giving enthusiasts the ability to customize an AiO to their own needs (or a parent’s needs) is a pretty strong argument for doing it yourself.</p>
<div class="module orange-module article-module">
<div class="module orange-module article-module"><span class="module-name">Benchmarks</span><br />
<div class="module-content">
<div class="module-text full">
<div class="spec-table orange">
<table style="width: 620px; height: 265px;" border="0">
<thead> </thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td><strong>Loop L5</strong></td>
<td><strong>Asus ET2701 INKI-B046C</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item">3DMark 11</td>
<td class="item-dark">P449</td>
<td><strong>P1,937</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Metro 2033 (fps)</td>
<td>10.9</td>
<td><strong>29</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="item">Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 (sec)</td>
<td class="item-dark">857</td>
<td><strong>404</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>MainConcept (sec)</td>
<td>985</td>
<td><strong>919</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ProShow Producer 3.0 (sec)</td>
<td>591</td>
<td><strong>486</strong></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><em>Best scores are bolded. Our zero-point AiO features a Core i7-3770S, 8GB of DDR3/1600, a GeForce GT 640M, and a 2TB 7,200rpm HDD. Metro 2033 is run at 1280x720, medium quality, DX10 mode, with 4x AA and 4x MSAA.</em></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/build_aio_2013#commentsFebruary 20132013aioall in one pcBuildDIYHardwaremaximum pcFeaturesHow-TosThu, 20 Jun 2013 20:40:06 +0000Gordon Mah Ung25441 at http://www.maximumpc.comMaker Faire 2013: 50 Pictureshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/maker_faire_2013_50_pictures
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u154082/5_0.jpg" alt="blue pc" title="blue pc" width="250" height="167" style="float: right;" />Pictures from one of the largest DIY conventions in the country</h3>
<p>This past weekend Maximum PC had the chance to check out <strong><a title="Maker Faire" href="http://makerfaire.com/" target="_blank">Maker Faire 2013</a></strong> in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area. The event, billing itself as "the greatest show and tell on Earth," is one of the largest DIY conventions in the country and has inventors from all around the globe showing off their latest and greatest doodads. While it is technically an arts and crafts show, technology played a big part of Maker Faire 2013 with inventors showing off everything from interesting PC case mods to robots. &nbsp;</p>
<p>You could really feel the spirit of creativity at the festive event. If you didn't have the good fortune of attending Maker Faire 2013, fret not as you can still see some of the unique devices in our extensive picture gallery below.</p>
<p>What's your favorite DIY invention here? Let us know in the comments!</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/maker_faire_2013_50_pictures#comments2013bay areacraft showDIYMaker Fairepicturessan mateoNewsFeaturesSat, 25 May 2013 18:50:46 +0000Jimmy Thang25593 at http://www.maximumpc.comStudy: Most Office Computer Users Reject IT Help for PC Problemshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/study_most_office_computer_users_reject_it_help_pc_problems2013
<!--paging_filter--><h3><img src="/files/u69/tech_support_cat.jpg" alt="Tech Support Cat" title="Tech Support Cat" width="228" height="198" style="float: right;" />Office workers are taking PC problems into their own hands.</h3>
<p>A nationwide survey conducted online in March 2013 by Harris Interactive on behalf of <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/crucial"><strong>Crucial</strong></a> found that the majority of office workers who use a computer are reluctant to call the IT department for tech support. Instead, 53 percent of the 2,144 U.S. adults said they attempt to fix their computer problems on their own or solicit help from a co-worker/someone else. What makes this finding even more interesting is that computer problems ranked as the top reason for decreased productivity.</p>
<p>Around 29 percent of respondents indicated computer problems (lost files, slowness, crashes, and so forth) as the primary reason productivity suffers in the workplace. The category outranked co-workers (25 percent), workload (22 percent), management (22 percent), and customers/clients/vendors (15 percent) as factors that negatively affect the work flow.</p>
<p>"It is interesting that while computers play such a pivotal role in the flow of an office's workload, many employees are choosing to remedy their computer issues without the assistance of a trained IT professional," <a href="http://www.crucial.com/company/media/releases/pressrelease.aspx?id=175B42B9EFA2B68E" target="_blank">says Roddy McLean</a>, marketing director, Crucial.com. "As the modern office worker is more reliant on the performance of their computer, they have also become more adept at finding a do-it-yourself solution when a computer crisis strikes."</p>
<p>There's a bit of a divide between the propensity of male and female workers to call IT for help. The survey found that male computer users (46 percent) are much more likely than female workers (25 percent) to fix their own PC problems. Young men between th ages of 18-34 are especially prone to go the do-it-yourself (DIY) route at 61 percent.</p>
<p>Crucial commissioned the survey to draw attention to the launch of a national contest to recognize everyday office workers who come to the aid of co-workers mired in computer chaos. Those nominated for the title of Official Unofficial Office Computer Go-To Superstar have a chance to win $5,000 in cash and a $5,000 Best Buy gift certificate.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OtUd7UlZDD4" width="620" height="349" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>If you know of an ideal candidate, you can drop their name at <a href="http://crucialsuperstar.com/" target="_blank">CrucialSuperstar.com</a>.</p>
<p>Image Source: icanhascheezburger.com</p>
<p><em>Follow Paul on <a href="https://plus.google.com/113266473617484509826?rel=author" target="_blank">Google+</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/paul_b_lilly" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Paul.B.Lilly" target="_blank">Facebook</a></em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/study_most_office_computer_users_reject_it_help_pc_problems2013#commentsCrucialDIYdo-it-yourselfharris interactiveITtech supportNewsTue, 09 Apr 2013 15:39:22 +0000Paul Lilly25324 at http://www.maximumpc.comSet Up the Ultimate Steam Boxhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/set_ultimate_steam_box2013
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Build your own small Steam Box PC using Valve's Big Picture Mode</h3>
<p>As PC gamers, we’re big fans of <a title="Valve Software" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/valve" target="_blank">Valve</a> Software’s <a title="steam maximum pc" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/steam" target="_blank">Steam</a> service and can’t imagine life without it. We’ve got a huge library of installed games, all of our friends are on it, and almost every AAA title is released on Steam, making it indispensable. The only “problem” with Steam has been that its interface was designed for sitting 24 inches away, at a monitor, making it incompatible with couch-bound gaming. Valve has rectified this dilemma with its recently launched <a title="setting up big picture mode" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how-tos/how_enable_steam_big_picture_mode_beta" target="_blank">Big Picture Mode</a>, which slaps a 10-foot interface on top of Steam and makes it easy to control with a gamepad. Since distance and connection issues can get in the way of running your desktop PC on your HDTV screen, we’re going to walk you through a more workable solution. First, we will advise you on selecting a small-but-powerful PC that’s suitable for a living room, then we’ll walk you through selecting appropriate peripherals, and finally we’ll show you how to get it all up and running, ready for Big Picture Mode deployment.</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" style="text-align: center;" href="/files/u152332/livingroom-2271_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/livingroom-2271_small.jpg" title="Steam Box" width="620" height="413" /></a></p>
<h4>1. Get Yourself a Living Room PC</h4>
<p>If you’re like us, you already have a desktop gaming PC that lives in a separate room, semi-far away from your television. Here in San Francisco, we reside in homes so cavernous that oftentimes our living room and bedroom or office are roughly 20 feet apart from each other, and don’t even get us started on our spacious bathrooms and ample parking options (this is sarcasm). Seriously though, space constraints aside, we like to keep our PC out of the living room since it’s big, somewhat noisy (despite our best efforts), and resides under a desk large enough to qualify as a studio apartment in the Bay Area. The living room is reserved for TV watching and Netflixing, and the only gaming it ever sees is on a board, typically. However, now that Steam offers a Big Picture Mode interface that can be controlled from across the room, we’d like a dedicated Steam box chillaxing in our living room so we can play some PC games from our couch.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/tik2_smalli_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/tik2_smalli.jpg" alt="Falcon Northwest Tiki gaming PC" title="Falcon Northwest Tiki gaming PC" width="620" height="1056" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Falcon Northwest Tiki gaming PC</strong></p>
<p>To accomplish this feat, we had two options—buy or build. Anyone who reads this magazine knows the route we took, but there are also a couple of worthwhile rigs for folks who don't want to get their hands dirty. For the more budget-conscious, <a title="alienware x51 review" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bprimary-term%5D/alienware_x51_review" target="_blank">Alienware’s X-51</a> has an elegant and amazingly thin chassis that can be had for as little as $800 (it received a 9 verdict when we reviewed it in our May 2012 issue). If you're willing to part with a bit more cash, Falcon Northwest has a new slimline rig called the <a title="Falcon Northwest Tiki review" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bprimary-term%5D/falcon_northwest_tiki_review" target="_blank">Tiki</a> that’s just 4 inches wide (pictured above). The baseline Core i5/GTX 650 combo will set you back $1,600, but Core i7 and <a title="GeForce GTX 680 review" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bprimary-term%5D/evga_geforce_gtx_680_review" target="_blank">GeForce GTX 680</a> are also options, if you can afford it (see our review in the September 2012 issue). Though both of these machines would look great in a living room, we chose to build a system because that's what we do here, and because we have a perfect template for this task: the "<a title="small gaming PC" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how-tos/how_build_small_gaming_pc" target="_blank">How to Build a Small Gaming PC" story</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Click the next page to see how to prepare your rig.</em></p>
<hr />
<h4><span style="font-size: 1em;">2. Prepare Your Rig</span></h4>
<p>The rig we built for this job splits the difference between a full-powered gaming machine and a small form factor PC. We know—technically, it’s a small form factor PC since it has a tiny Mini-ITX motherboard, but that board houses some kick-ass components, including a water-cooled Intel Core i5-3570K processor, a 240GB SSD and 3TB HDD, and an overclocked <a title="GeForce GTX 670 review" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bprimary-term%5D/msi_geforce_gtx_670_power_edition" target="_blank">GeForce GTX 670</a> from <a title="msi maximum pc" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/msi" target="_blank">MSI</a>. In our benchmarks, this little rig cranked out 76fps in Batman: Arkham City at 2560x1600, which is more than enough muscle for gaming on our TV. That’s one hell of a PC, and the fact that it’s not any taller or wider than a roided-out Chihuahua is icing on the cake.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/build_it-1510_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/build_it-1510_small.jpg" width="620" height="717" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Our Steam box</strong></p>
<h4>3. Choose the Peripherals</h4>
<p>As desktop commandos, we know exactly which mouse and keyboard combo we usually prefer, but that all changes when you move to a softer, more comfy location like the couch. We needed a keyboard that was light and wireless, and we decided against a mouse simply because neither our legs nor our couch is flat enough to provide an accurate mousing surface. We also needed to select a gamepad that works well on a PC, and it's slim pickings these days as most gamers just use a mouse and keyboard.</p>
<p><strong>Keyboard </strong></p>
<p>To satisfy both our mouse and keyboard needs we went with the sublime <a title="k400" href="http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/Wireless-touch-keyboard-k400r" target="_blank">Logitech K400</a> Wireless Touch Keyboard (below)—<br />not to be confused with its predecessor from the 1980s, the Invisible Touch. The K400 is incredibly light but provides comfortable keys and a surprisingly accurate touchpad with vertical scrolling support that makes browsing the web and navigating Steam's interface a cinch. The keyboard's 30-foot wireless range is more than sufficient, and its slim profile comes in handy when we need to stow it inside our entertainment center. We also like the fact that the included AA batteries will last up to a year; we just have to remember to turn off the keyboard when not using it.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/logitech_k400_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/logitech_k400_small.jpg" width="620" height="259" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Game Controller</strong></p>
<p>We debated for quite a while over which game controller to choose before settling on an old standby, the <a title="Xbox 360 controller" href="http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/xbox-360-wireless-controller-for-windows" target="_blank">Xbox wireless controller</a> for PC. We like that it's comfortable, easy to set up, and it works perfectly. We could have saved some money by going with something from <a title="saitek website" href="http://www.saitek.com/" target="_blank">Saitek</a> but we like the build quality and heft of the Microsoft controller. Say what you will about Microsoft’s ability to craft a touch-based OS, but the company knows how to build a peripheral, that's for sure. The wireless dongle is also easy to tuck away in our rat's nest of cables.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="/files/u152332/xbox_controller-3130_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/xbox_controller-3130_small.jpg" /></a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><em>Click the next page to see how you should enable Big Picture and connect to the network.</em></span></p>
<h4>
<hr /></h4>
<h4>4. Connect to the Network</h4>
<p>Powerline networking has overcome most of its initial teething issues and has turned into a reliable and fast alternative to wireless. Obviously, running a gigabit hardline would be the best option, but that’s not always an option. And while wireless is the easiest option, it’s also prone to problems if you live in a dense area where several routers are stomping on each other. Thus, we opted for powerline networking. We can plug our router into a power outlet in our office, then connect the Steam box to a power outlet in our living room and be done with it.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/tp-link_av500powerline_adapter_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/tp-link_av500powerline_adapter_small.jpg" width="620" height="429" /></a></p>
<p>The kit we chose was the winner of our powerline-networking roundup in the December issue of the <a title="maximum pc magazine" href="https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/IM/MAX/MAX-subscribe.jsp?cds_page_id=63027&amp;cds_mag_code=MAX&amp;id=1362092597064&amp;lsid=30591703170029708&amp;vid=1&amp;cds_response_key=IHTH31ANN" target="_blank">magazine</a>, the TP-Link AV500. This $95 kit was the fastest kit we tested, with 66Mb/s average read speeds, and the least expensive, so that’s a win-win in our book. We also like how the LEDs on the front of the units show us how fast our connection speed is.</p>
<p>Setting it up was as simple as plugging one unit into a wall socket, then connecting the cable to the LAN port on our router, and pressing a button on the adapter to begin the syncing process. We then connected the second adapter to a power outlet behind our entertainment system, and ran CAT5 cable from the adapter to our Steam box. After we pressed the sync button on the second adapter, we had a signal in about 45 seconds and were able to get online.</p>
<h4>5. Enter Big Picture Mode</h4>
<p>With our rig connected to our HDTV, all of our peripherals functioning, and our Internet connection humming along, we installed our OS (<a title="Windows 8 review" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/windows_8_Review" target="_blank">Windows 8</a> Pro), went directly to <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/">www.steampowered.com</a>, and installed the Steam client. Big Picture Mode is not enabled by default, so we followed a few steps to <a title="enable steam big picture" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/how-tos/how_enable_steam_big_picture_mode_beta" target="_blank">enable it</a>, which involves opting in to the Steam Beta program. Once we restarted Steam, we found a Big Picture button in the upper right-hand corner, so we clicked it to activate Big Picture Mode.</p>
<p>The interface is extremely easy to navigate, with everything nicely organized into big boxes that are easy to see, even from the couch. We attempted to navigate the UI with our Xbox controller but found we prefer using the Logitech keyboard/touchpad just because it was easier to move our finger on the touchpad and it's what we're used to. The main screen lets you choose between the Store, Library, and Friends list; we dove right into our Library. Games are organized just like in regular Steam, so we could see installed games, games we played recently, and even games that support a controller—a very nice touch, and an indication that Steam took the implementation of Big Picture Mode seriously as opposed to just overlaying a bigger skin on top of Steam. BPM also includes a web browser as well as a home page portal that includes Facebook, Twitter, Google, and our other "favorites," which are easily customizable. Is it possible that someday we'll boot into a Steam OS with all our games, our favorite web browser, and our files hosted in the cloud? We shall see.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/big_picture_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/big_picture_small.jpg" width="620" height="539" /></a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;"><em>Click the next page to see what PC games work well from your couch.&nbsp;</em></span></p>
<h3>
<hr /></h3>
<h3>Let off Some Steam</h3>
<p><strong>Four games that play great from the couch</strong></p>
<p>We’ll be the first to admit that we’re not the most avid living room gamers, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. We’re typically found at our desks playing Borderlands 2, BF3, or DayZ, so playing with an Xbox controller is sort of akin to a dog walking in sandals. We did, however, find some games that are awesome with a controller, and we highly recommend you check them out.</p>
<h4><a title="Portal 2" href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/620/?snr=1_7_15__13" target="_blank">Portal 2</a></h4>
<p>We loved Portal 2 on the PC, and though the placing of portals and dropping of the companion cube took a bit of practice with the controller, we eventually figured it out and had a blast playing this game from our couch. Since you rarely have to use twitch movements to accurately aim yourself when being flung through the testing facility, a controller works just fine.</p>
<h4><a title="Dirt 3" href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/44320/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1" target="_blank">Dirt 3</a></h4>
<p>We've always been a fan of racing games on the PC, and as much as it pains us to say it, they are even better with a gamepad. We were able to sit back and comfortably shred the snow-capped courses of Dirt 3 while drifting to our heart's content.</p>
<h4><a title="Psychonauts" href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/3830/?snr=1_7_15__13" target="_blank">Psychonauts</a></h4>
<p>Psychonauts is an oldie but a very, very goodie and it plays extremely well on a huge TV and with a gamepad. The Xbox controller is especially useful for all the jumping puzzles the game throws at you, even the horrific ones contained in the Meat Circus.</p>
<h4>MotoGP 08</h4>
<p>MotoGP 08 was designed for gamepad use and it’s bloody awesome. Controlling the bikes is almost as easy as actually riding a MotoGP bike in real life—or so we imagine. The main advantage is being able to hold a lean angle through the corners, with a smidge of pressure on the controller stick, which is much easier to pull off with a controller than trying to half-press a keyboard key.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u152332/motogp_1_small_0.jpg"><img src="/files/u152332/motogp_1_small.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The good old days of MotoGP—Stoner on the Ducati and Rossi on the Yamaha</strong></p>
<h4><a title="Puzzle Quest" href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/12500/?snr=1_7_15__13" target="_blank">Puzzle Quest</a></h4>
<p>To be honest, we never got that into this game’s sequel, and prefer the original. We just appreciate the simplicity of the game mechanics, and love going up against an ogre or orc and unleashing a deadly chain of attacks. Having the huge display with much larger blocks than we’re accustomed to made it easier to evaluate our options before making a move, and it also made navigating the world map a bit easier, as well.</p>
<p><em>Note: This article appeared in the Holiday 2012 issue of the magazine.</em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/set_ultimate_steam_box2013#comments2012big picture modeBuildDIYgaming pcHoliday 2012Holiday issuemaximum pcpc gamesSteamsteam boxValveFeaturesThu, 28 Feb 2013 23:17:52 +0000Josh Norem25013 at http://www.maximumpc.comIntel's Next Unit of Computing HTPC and Raspberry Pi Compared (Video)http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/intels_next_unit_computing_htpc_and_raspberry_pi_compared_video321
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Intel and ARM go head-to-head in the small-PC arena</h3>
<p>We got a review unit of Intel's tiny <strong><a title="Next Unit of Computing" href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/report_intels_ivy_bridge-powered_nuc_mini_pc_cost_400" target="_blank">Next Unit of Computing</a>&nbsp;</strong><strong>(NUC)&nbsp;</strong>HTPC in the office and decided to compare it to the ever popular Raspberry Pi. While the unit is significantly larger and more expensive than the popular credit-card sized computer, the Next Unit of Computing is also much more powerful. It&nbsp;features a 17W Core i3-3217U 1.8GHz processor on a QS77 motherboard, four USB 2.0 ports, a thunderbolt port, and a HDMI port. The device supports up to 16GB of DDR3 laptop RAM and has PCI-e slots for a wireless card and m-SATA SSD.</p>
<p>Check out the video below to see Gordon compare the Next Unit of Computing with the Raspberry Pi side-by-side.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NT0Kt6n3ilM" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Not a bad deal for $400? Let us know in the comments!</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/intels_next_unit_computing_htpc_and_raspberry_pi_compared_video321#comments400buckscomputerDIYdollarsHardwareIntel HTPCMPCTVnext unit of computingnucraspberry pismall pctinyNewsFeaturesWeb ExclusiveFri, 30 Nov 2012 23:24:17 +0000Chris Zele24600 at http://www.maximumpc.comIntel Prepares To Release a DIY Palm Sized Ivy Bridge Kithttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/intel_prepares_release_diy_palm_sized_ivy_bridge_kit234
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u46173/dsc_8917_575px.jpg" alt="NUC" width="228" height="162" style="float: right;" />Zotac has been making amazing small form factor DIY kits for years now, but performance has always been hit or miss. Back at IDF <strong><a href="http://www.intel.com">Intel</a></strong> was showing off a possible Zbox competitor to anyone who strolled through the booth, and <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6444/intels-next-unit-of-computing-hands-on">AnandTech</a> has managed to get their hands on a sample. Intel is calling its new 4” x 4” x 2” small form factor kit the “<strong><a href="http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/next-unit-computing-introduction.html">Next Unit of Computing</a></strong>”, or NUC for short. This unfortunately named new product will come in two variations, and both look like excellent options for the HTPC crowd, or for people with basic computing needs.</p>
<p>The two part numbers only have minor differences, and both will be powered by the dual core Intel Core i3-3217U based off Ivy Bridge. This has a power sipping TDP of just 17W, and runs Intel’s HD 4000 graphics. The primary difference between the two kits is Gigabit Ethernet vs. Thunderbolt, and the model with Ethernet also includes two HDMI outputs as opposed to just one.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u46173/anandtechtable.png"><img src="/files/u46173/anandtechtablethumb.png" alt="NUC Table" width="405" height="310" /></a></p>
<p><em>(Image Credit = <a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/6444/intels-next-unit-of-computing-hands-on">AnandTech.com</a>)</em></p>
<p>If you are considering picking one of these up keep in mind you will need to supply your own mSATA drive, along with up to two 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM chips. It goes without saying, but you’ll also need to supply a copy of Windows if you aren’t into the whole Linux movement. The extra hardware will add about $100 to the $300 price Intel is asking, and Windows will likely run you another $100.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u46173/intel-tiny-desktop-expanded-2.jpg"><img src="/files/u46173/intel-tiny-desktop-expanded-2thumb.jpg" alt="NUC Details" width="405" height="282" /></a></p>
<p>All things considered, this looks like an impressive little sub $500 PC. The Ethernet version will be available sometime this month, and the Thunderbolt variation will ship in December.</p>
<p><span style="font-style: italic;">Follow Justin on </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.twitter.com/justinkerr">Twitter</a></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/intel_prepares_release_diy_palm_sized_ivy_bridge_kit234#commentsbuild itDIYHardwareintelivy bridgeNewsSun, 11 Nov 2012 17:02:40 +0000Justin Kerr24480 at http://www.maximumpc.comCaine's Arcade: 9-Year-Old Builds Intricate Game Gallery Out of Cardboardhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/caines_arcade_9-year-old_builds_intricate_game_gallery_out_cardboard
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/caines_arcade.jpg" width="228" height="165" style="float: right;" />There's a new viral video making the rounds, and it's about a 9-year-old kid who built his own arcade out of cardboard boxes in his dad's used auto parts store in East L.A. The whole idea is full of win in so many ways that it's difficult to know where to begin, which is okay because the video pretty much speaks for itself, but there are some things definitely worth pointing out. Let's start with his age. It bears repeating that little Caine is just 9 years old. Instead of spending his summer vacation hanging out with other kids his age or holed up in his room playing video games, he was slicing and dicing cardboard in his dad's shop en route to one of the coolest DIY modding projects in recent memory.</p>
<p>Caine's Arcade is rudimentary, sure, but it's also extraordinarily detailed and leaps and bounds ahead of the cardboard computer case former Maximum PC Associate Editor and Contributing Writer, David Murphy, built as part of '<a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/the_500_pc_build_off">The $500 PC Build-Off</a>' challenge. There are games of challenge, tickets that spew out of slits in the cardboard (with Caine pushing them through), prizes, and even a security system to make sure no one abuses the $2 fun pass, which is good for 500 plays, versus getting four plays for a buck. The kid even figured out a way to build a claw machine using not much more than rope. This kid is the real deal, and lest there be any doubt, he made business cards and designed a shirt with "Staff" on the front and "Caine's Arcade" on the back (the video explains he was reluctant to wear the shirt to school because the other kids didn't believe he had his own arcade).</p>
<p>His first customer happened to be Nirvan Mullick, an "award winning filmmaker," among other things, who was shopping a door handle for 1996 Toyota Corolla. He recorded the video that would go viral and also organized a flashmob to get the kid more customers. As mentioned, everything about this story is full of win, culminating in a scholarship fund Mullick setup for Caine on <a href="http://cainesarcade.com/">CainesArcade.com</a>, which has raised over $110,000 so far.</p>
<p>Check out the video below:</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/faIFNkdq96U" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/caines_arcade_9-year-old_builds_intricate_game_gallery_out_cardboard#commentscaine's arcadeDIYmoddingViralNewsThu, 12 Apr 2012 13:19:38 +0000Paul Lilly23112 at http://www.maximumpc.comiFixIt Seeks Out Repair Gurus from Around the World, Profiles Them on New Websitehttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/ifixit_seeks_out_repair_gurus_around_world_profiles_them_new_website
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u69/repair.jpg" width="228" height="151" style="float: right;" />We'd love it if you spent the bulk of your online time right here on MaximumPC.com, and we're constantly working hard to deliver awesome online content to keep you coming back. But hey, the Web is big -- really big -- and there are some worthwhile destinations out there. One of our favorites is iFixIt.com, a site dedicated to DIY electronics repair enthusiasts, and these guys aren't afraid to crack open the latest gear to see what makes 'em tick. We dig that kind of mindset. So when our friends at iFixIt told us they were launching a new website, they had our full attention.</p>
<p>"This week, we're launching iFixit.org to tell the story of repair. We are going to profile repair gurus from around the world, investigate the motivations of people who fix things, and consider the larger ethical and philosophical issues surrounding repair. It's going to be a blast, and we look forward to bringing you along on the journey," iFixIt stated in an email.</p>
<p>iFixIt's founder Kyle Wiens has been hopping around the globe visiting small repair shops in developing countries, chronicling his travels along the way. Some of what he's seen will end up on the new site.</p>
<p>"We will also be posting updates about <a href="http://ifixit.org/fixers-film/">Fixers</a>, a short documentary Kyle and his team of journalists have been developing about electronics repair technicians in cities such as Nairobi, Delhi, and Cairo," iFixIt says. "Currently in post-production, Fixers will be released later this year. iFixit.org will host progress reports, behind-the-scenes goodies, and previously unreleased footage."</p>
<p>Being a new site, there's not a ton of content up yet, but like a stack of old electronics, it's starting to pile up. There are posts about about a water pump repair shop in Kenya, finding a good e-waste recycler, Egypt's master car mechanic, and a few other tidbits. You can dive in <a href="http://ifixit.org/">here</a>.</p>
<p>Image Credit: iFixIt</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/ifixit_seeks_out_repair_gurus_around_world_profiles_them_new_website#commentsDIYifixitifixit.orgInternetonlinerepairtechnologyNewsThu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:04 +0000Paul Lilly22327 at http://www.maximumpc.comElectronics For The Everyman: 25 Kick Ass Arduino-Powered Projectshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/electronics_everyman_25_kick_ass_arduino-powered_projects
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/arduino_teaser.jpg" width="228" height="228" style="float: right;" />Once you’ve conquered your fear of static electricity and successfully built a kick ass custom PC from the ground up, making the jump to custom electronics isn’t all that intimidating.&nbsp; The open-source Arduino microcontroller breaks down the entry barrier even further. Flexible, powerful, easy-to-use and licensed-to-alter (under Creative Commons Share-Alike), the Arduino is the linchpin behind scads and scads of nifty DIY electronics projects. And hey! It just so happens that we’ve gathered 25 of the coolest, craziest, and most useful Arduino-powered projects in this gallery for your viewing – and building – pleasure. Mind-controlled Nerf guns, anybody? No, it’s not black magic. It’s the magic of Arduino!</p>
<p>Most of the projects listed include detailed hardware shopping lists, custom software and handy step-by-step instructions so that you can recreate them in your very own Fortress of Geeky Solitude. Unfortunately, that info is too long to recreate here, so be sure to hit the links provided with the pictures to visit the project pages and learn all the nitty gritty details for each project. And if all this microcontroller goodness piques your interest, <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/">Make Magazine’s blog</a> and the <a href="http://www.instructables.com/technology/arduino/?sort=RECENT">Arduino section of the Instructables website</a> are great resources for staying up to date with the latest and greatest Arduino news and projects. Now let’s get crackin’!</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/electronics_everyman_25_kick_ass_arduino-powered_projects#commentsarduinocoolcool stuffDIYelectronicelectronicsfeaturefeaturesgalleryHardwaremicrocontrollerFeaturesTue, 29 Nov 2011 21:14:29 +0000Brad Chacos21518 at http://www.maximumpc.com